Featured Data December 16, 2021

The Importance of Work Friends

Kyle Gray

Americans who never attended college are experiencing a rapid social decline—they have fewer close friends and considerably less social support. Part of the reason may have to do with the fact that Americans without a college education have fewer workplace friends. Sixty-two percent of college graduates have a close friend they met through work, compared to 47 percent of those without a college education. But why do Americans without a college degree have fewer friends? Lower labor force participation and greater economic instability may be to blame. For the growing number of Americans who are unmarried and unattached to religion, the workplace has become an incredibly important source of social connection and belonging.